“‹NEARLY 100 newly-hired Immigration officers have been deployed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to augment the agency’s manpower at the premiere port this summer at the height of the peak travel season.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said 99 freshly recruited immigration officers, who just completed their four-month training at the Philippine Immigration Academy in Clark, Pampanga, had reported to their assigned shifts and terminals at the Naia.
Announcement of the deployment coincided with reports about long lines being back at the Naia terminals due to lack of personnel manning the Immigration counters.
But Immigration officials said the long lines being experienced were due to the “peak summer vacation season.”
Immigration spokesperson Antonette Mangrobang said the long queues at the airport would likely be common until June because of the summer peak season passenger traffic.
But some departing passengers noticed that only one immigration officer manned the counter, saying it should have at least four personnel to prevent long lines.
“We have to admit we are experiencing lack of personnel but this coming weeks we will come up with the deployment of additional immigration officers. You can count on us that by next week the problem on long queues will be resolved,” said Naia chief Immigration officer Marc Red Mariñas.
The bureau is expected to deploy individuals to Naia Terminals 1 and 2 for their on-the-job training and become immigration officers.
Those individuals are mostly information technologists from the bureau while others are newly hired and undergoing months of training.
The agency is having a hard time getting qualified personnel to become an immigration officers because of a meager salary of P18,000 to P20,000 per month.
Meanwhile, various airlines urged all passengers on international flights to be at the airport at least three hours before departure to allow ample time for check-in and go through security and immigration checks in anticipation of the increase number of air travelers this season.
Charo Logarta Lagamon, Cebu Pacific Air corporate communications director, said the airline check-in counters were open four hours before the scheduled time of departure for international flights. She added all check-in counters will be closed 45 minutes before the scheduled time of flights, except those exiting Dubai (one hour) and Shanghai (50 minutes).
Airport general manager Eddie Monreal said they are expecting high volume of passengers travelling to several local destinations this summer vacation.
“I call local carriers plying domestic routes to make sure that we do not create long lines in our check-in counters due to shortage of people or delayed opening of their counters,” Monreal said.
He added “Summer is a family matter. So there are parents travelling with their children. We should think of them.”
Morente described the new employees as “young and idealistic men and women who are all eager to assume their new roles as gatekeepers of the country.”
The BI chief added that “as a result of their deployment, these long queues of passengers at our immigration counters at the airport will be reduced, if not totally eliminated.”
BI port operations division chief Marc Red Mariñas said the fielding of more immigration officers to the Naia would ensure that the bureau has adequate manpower to serve the traveling public during the peak travel season.